Fountain pen



Patented July 22, 1941 FOUNTAIN PEN Amilcare Calo, North Arlington, N.J., assignor to Associated Pen Corporation, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of New York Application October 19, 1940, Serial No. 361,908

(Cl. 1Z0-47) 5 Claims.

My invention relates to fountain pens.

The object oi' my invention is to provide a fountain pen which isconstructed to prevent an undue quantity of ink from flowing to the penpoint when the reservoir of the pen is nearly empty and contains arelatively large volume of air.

A further object is to provide a better means for filling the reservoirwith ink, the construction being such that no metal parts are required,and such as permits the operation of filling the reservoir by a personhaving but one hand.

A further `object is to provide a construction which permits the llingmeans to be easily removed from the barrel of the pen for the purpose ofrenewal or repair.

A further object is to provide a construction that insures a perfectlytight joint between the lling means and reservoir.

Referring to the drawing which forms a part of the specifications:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the pen with the fillingmeans shown in its normal position in the barrel of the pen.

Fig. 2 is a plan longitudinal sectional view, on line 2-2 of Fig, 1,showing the plunger of the iilling means as it rests after thecompletion of an inner stroke of the plunger.

I0 indicates the barrel of the pen, which may be made of opaque ortransparent material such as generally used for the purpose oi holdingink. II indicates the pen section, in which is located a feed plug I2,and a pen point I3 is held in the usual manner between the said plug andinner wall of the pen section.

The feed plug is formed to provide a slot or duct which extends fromnear the point of the pen in the usual manner, t-o a point I5 located apredetermined distance from its inner end I2', and a substantially tightjoint is effected between the pen section and inner end of the plug atIB, as illustrated.

I'I indicates an air tube, an end of which fits into a bore I8 in therear end of the feed plug, and the passage thru the tube is in opencommunication with a passage I9 which extends therefrom in opencommunication with the feed duct I4.

20 indicates an aperture which extends thru the wall of the tube andforms a restricted passage for ink which may flow therethru to the ductin the plug.

The aperture is located a predetermined distance from the adjacent endof the plug, the

distance depending upon the ink capacity Yof the reservoir 2I The endI'i of the air tube is open, and rests adjacent the inner end of thelling means comprising a plunger, when the plunger is at the end of itsinward stroke, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

22 indicates a soft elastic envelope, of rubber or other suitablematerial, and of less diameter than that of the inner diameter of thereservoir, said envelope being closed at its inner end and open at itsouter end, and of less length than that of the reservoir 2|.

Located within the envelope is a ring 23 of hard rubber or othersuitableV material, the diameter of which is nearly that of the diameterof the reservoir, and 24 indicates a cylindrical rod the inner end ofwhich is connected to said ring.

25, 25, etc., indicate washers thru which said rod slides easily, andthe outer circular rims of which abut the inner wall of the envelope, asillustrated.

26 indicates a plug, the outer end of which is threaded for engagementwith a cap (not shown) for covering the rod 24.

The said plug is adapted to be forced into the open end of the envelopeand compressing it against the inner side of the barrel I0 asillustrated at 21, and thus firmly aiiiXing the envelope in ink-tightrelation therewith. The plug 2E is provided with a central bore 26through which the rod is movable in close sliding relation, and the rodnormally extends a predetermined distance outwardly therefrom and isprovided with a knob 28 which limits the inward movement of the rod. Theplug is preferably formed with an annular groove 29 to reduce the lengthof the joint between the barrel and envelope, the inner end of the plugbeing of less diameter than that at the joint and thus permitting theenvelope to slide thereover in the act of lling the reservoir.

'I'he construction provides a unitary unit which may be attached to thebarrel of the pen, and may be made and sold as a separate article ofmanufacture.

It will be` seen that the construction embodies a pump of the plungertype, comprising an elas tic envelope of tubular form, which stretchesin the act of filling the reservoir.

When such elastic tube extends over a ring (as 23) at one end, and isheld at its other end (as at 21) by the plug, and is stretched by theinward movement of the ring, the tube would contract in diameter betweensaid elements. To prevent such collapsing action, the washers or rings25, by reason of their contact with the inner wall of the envelope, arecarried by the envelope as it stretches, and the rings slide on the rodand separate from each other, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and thus preventthe envelope from contracting materially, or to a degree that wouldrender the plunger unfit to perform its proper function.

The operation of .lling the reservoir is accomplished in the followingmanner. The pen is immersed in the ink supply in the usual manner offilling, and thereafter the plunger is forced downwardly into thebarrel, thus displacing a portion of the air therein and forcing it fromthe barrel thru the tube and outlets therefrom to the atmosphere. Theplunger is then allowed to return to its normal position, actuated bythe spring action of the envelope which was stretched on the inwardstroke of the plunger, and draws ink into the reservoir, and byrepeating the foregoing action, the reservoir will ll. It will beobserved that all of the air and all of the ink must pass thru thepassage I9.

It is common knowledge to fountain pen manufacturers that the cubiccapacity of the reservoir cannot be too large, the reasons being thatwhen too large for proper control by the feed construction, thereservoir, when partly empty, will contain such a large volume of airthat it destroys the degree of rarefaction above the remaining volume ofink, and ink will therefore flow from the reservoir. If the air controlmay be so made as to restrict the air in its flow into the barrel, agreater amount of ink may be held in the barrel due to such lesserquantity of air being admitted thereto. The present construction attainsthis advantage by reason of the limiting actionof the air control, thearrangement of the passages as illustrated causing a restriction of airflowing into the reservoir, and thus causing a greater degree ofrarefaction to be maintained at all times. aperture 20 in the air tubeat a greater distance from the rear end I2 of the feed plug, a portionof the ink will be trapped between the end of said plug and theaperture, which ink will displace the air when the reservoir is suppliedwith Also, by locating the i ink, by the small quantity of ink restingabove said aperture when the pen is being used in the act of writing.

Therefore the construction as a whole provides for positive easy fillingof the reservoir, and greater ink capacity controlled by the novelarrangement disclosed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new:

1. A fountain pen comprising a barrel which serves as a reservoir forink, a pump of the plunger type comprising an elastic cylindricalenvelope the inner end of which isclosed and the outer end open, a plugof cylindrical form which ts within the open end of the envelope andserves to hold it in ink-tight relation to the outer end of the barrel,said plug having a bore extending axially therethru, a rod extendingfrom the inner end of said envelope thru said bore a predetermineddistance, and rings on said rod in sliding relation therewith whichextend to and support the wall of the envelope to prevent it fromcontracting in diameter.

2. A fountain pen comprising a barrel which serves as a reservoir forink and is open at its rear end, a pump mechanism of the plunger typelcomprising an elastic envelope, cylindrical in form and closed at itsinner end and open at its outer end, a plug of cylindrical form whichfits within the open end of the envelope and serves to hold it inink-tight relation with the inner wall of the barrel and to form aclosure for the outer end of said barrel,r and a rod extending thru theplug to the inner end of the envelope and outwardly from the plug apredetermined distance, by means of which the envelope may be stretchedin the act of filling the pen with liquid.

3. The construction defined in claim 2, together with a knob on theouter end which serves to limit the inward movement thereof.

4. The construction defined in claim 2, together with means forpreventing said envelope from becoming reduced in diameter during thestretching operation.

5. The construction defined in claim 2, together with means forretaining said envelope in substantially cylindrical form during thestretching operation.

AMILCARE CALO.

